


(i can) say nothing

by smhikari (heeyito)



Category: Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Love Confessions, Useless Lesbians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-26 09:01:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20739653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heeyito/pseuds/smhikari
Summary: A few weeks after Shinjiro's death, Yukari and Minako have a little heart to heart about their relationship.Basically just sad lesbians getting together with a hint of angst.





	(i can) say nothing

"Oh, hey.", Yukari greets from her seat at the table, nose buried in a fashion magazine and a presumably empty cup of ramen in front of her.

Nothing out of the ordinary so far, Minako thinks as she raises her arm to wave at the girl.

After closing the door silently behind her back she tends to the sign-in sheet to add her name. Today's list is already filled with the other's names which means that another day has passed without a casualty. The thought is somewhat relieving.

"Why are you still up?", Minako asks while putting down the pen and skimming over the page once more.

"Don't you think I should be asking you why you were out until now?", the archer counters with raised eyebrows.

At that, Minako finally looks up and shrugs. The grin on her face almost reaches her eyes when she falls victim to a very suspicious look.

"Okay, then. Mind hanging out a little while longer?", she proposes and it seems Yukari is more than happy to agree.

It looks almost dramatic how she drops her magazine on the table, unfolds those nicely toned legs and gets up. Minako catches herself staring for a second but quickly tears her gaze off her friend in order to throw her bag into the next corner.

Not even a minute later the two of them find themselves seated on the opposite ends of the couch facing the TV, legs stretched out and intertwined with each other. 

It feels nice. A bit like home.

Yukari begins to talk about her day and that stupid FUCKING girl from her archery club who keeps rushing into relationships with seniors and uses up their precious practice time for relationship drama. Maybe, under different circumstances, Minako would tease her, tell her that this precious practice time seems to lead to her missing a lot of important shots in battle. And, under different circumstances, Yukari would get all annoyed and try to defend herself up until she'd notice her friend's giggles. There'd be hand to hand combat involved for sure.

However, these are darker times, not suited for making someone else feel upset. Shinjiro is dead. Nobody deserves to hear someone giving them a hard time about combat utility because in this case, there had been to choices or battles that could have prevented his death.

Minako isn't sad though, she wants to see her friends smile. So never in hell would she allow herself to show weakness in front of them. After all, she's the leader.

Yukari breaks through her thoughts with a loud groan before continuing her rant, "I know one thing for sure. And that is that I'll never date a senior in my high school life, like ever. I promise! Guys are only trouble and the worst thing is that most girls fall for trouble..!?"

Minako chuckles and bumps the girl's shins with her own, "See? That's why we should be a thing. I'm neither a boy nor a senior."

It takes the smaller one a while to process before brown eyes go wide and pale cheeks catch blazing red fire. A shocked expression hits Minako in the face which makes her chuckle evolve into full-blown laughter.

"Y-you can't joke about that! Jeeeez. Seriously, we're both… girls, you know..?"

Red meets brown shortly after that statement; Minako truly feels like a fool in this moment. It's adorable how flustered Yukari gets when she makes these kinds of comments on their relationship. She's squirming in her seat, hot skin rubbing against the leader's pale legs and of course there's no end to her blushing.

"So? Makes it ten times hotter!", she follows up ever so confidently and sticks out her tongue, too.

"Ugh, you're like Junpei sometimes!"

How fitting. 

Minako actually came out to Junpei first right as he was asking her what boys she was interested in back in May. He wouldn't take "no boys for me" for an answer and suddenly she'd revealed her massive crush on their healer.

"Yeah…", she decides to let up, eyeing her dear friend from the side and for some reason starts to feel weird about herself. Has she said too much?

Yukari takes a few seconds to calm her breathing and stop moving around so much before she rubs her eyes.

"Don't be all weirded out, please.", she adds, "I'm too tired to just stare at you for ten minutes."

To clarify, this has actually happened before. And used to happen a lot when Minako was being a little more open about her crush on her friend. Said friend however decided not to get any of the leader's advances and thus, a bit of awkwardness ensued.

"Sorry.", she says, sounding genuine and Yukari acknowledges it with a nod.

But then she responds way differently than Minako would have even dared to imagine. There's this unspoken rule in their group, or more like two;  
First off, you do not date within SEES and second, you do not fall in love with someone within SEES.

And at first, no one had given these rules much thought until things got serious and everyone began to notice how important it was to have a functioning squad during the Dark Hour. No hard feelings involved was the way to go, they should have learned from Ken and Shinji.

Minako had given up every and any hope for a bright future with her crush until this very moment.

"Ya know, I'm not even… oh, this sounds so weird.", her blush returns, stronger this time, "I'm n-n-not even all thaaaaat repulsed by the idea or anything. You're a great… girl."

Now it's the fool's time to succumb to the burning of her cheeks as well and she can't help but stare at Yukari's face in search of a more joke-y expression. But there is none, she is serious and suddenly everything makes sense again. 

Suddenly Minako feels the oppressed butterflies in her stomach break free from their prison and swarm out in every direction, her heart beating so fast she feels like she's going to have to choke it up just to let all of that pressure out.

"Aaaand, I'm not a senior, right?", she asks, trying to sound as cheeky and flirty as always but her voice is shaking and so full of unspoken insecurity.

Yukari's facials suddenly soften as she senses this new and raw emotion from her friend. There is conflict on her face as she turns to Minako, faces her with a glimmer in her eyes.

"I- uh.", she pauses awkwardly, "I don't know what to say, y-you... you're making this so hard for me, Minako."

The look on her fool's face is one that speaks of great hurt, like her whole world is about to end. And that's how she feels, absolutely terrified even though that's just what she didn't want, especially not in front of Yukari. She wants to leave and at the same time wishes to stay because she's never been the first to go.

"Hard how?"

With a deep breath Yukari gets up and crawls over to her friend who takes her legs back to herself. She settles closely in front of the taller girl, their knees touching as they keep eye contact.

"Hard in so many ways, really.", wherever this sudden burst of courage came from, Yukari is thankful to have it because otherwise she'd probably just leave the room and stay in bed for three days. 

She's never been forced to take the initiative in these kinds of situations, is always so used to be on the receiving end of these emotional exchanges. And now she understands the nervous boys having literal break downs while confessing to her or why so many people prefer to write love letters instead of direct confrontation. 

It's absolutely terrible, confrontation, she feels like her insides are soon going to be outsides as much as everything churns and squeezes inside of her as she collects her words.

She prays to the high heavens and even her dad to give a strength and wishes for luck, for the case that she has not been misreading Minako's actions up until this very moment.

"It's hard not to like you as a friend. You're always there and you care and somehow you always know the best thing to say with literally anyone. And with me especially. When I talk to you, I feel so free. It's amazing, really, being able to talk to someone like that, not having to care about what might slip out because I know it's you and you know me so well, you'd never judge me for anything I've done in the past or am doing in the present. And it's hard not to like you as a partner. You're so reliable in battle, always calling the shots, always managing our supplies and equipment. I mean, you even pour your own money into all of this, that's insane. No one I know would do that. But… But the hardest thing is not falling in love with you.", her blush reaches a whole new level as the words leave her mouth, "There, I said it! And you know what, you can laugh now or tease me for it because I misread your platonic flirting or some bullshit. But I love you, Minako! I really do. You've been there for me though all that fucked up shit that's been happening, you've been taking care of everyone including _me_ when Shinji just died then and not once have you thought about yourself. Not once have you cried or broken down, not once have you failed an exam or refused to go to Tartarus when everyone else has. You're one of a kind, Minako. You're pretty and lovely and charming. Smart and strong, too. And then you're not even selfish. You're so not full of yourself even though you act like the cheekiest little shit sometimes. But you'd never let anyone get hurt if you could prevent it. And because I love you like this I want to ask you to stop for a second. You don't have to be a leader with me. Just be Minako Arisato and let yourself get hurt."

When she finishes, Yukari is out of breath and Minako is questioning her grip on reality quite intensely.

And if takes time for both of them to process what just happened, how Yukari went from "we're both girls" to this but Minako can't help but feel so warm, like she's never felt before.

She looks at Yukari and her teary eyes before pulling her into the tightest hug that she can manage strength-wise.

"I love you, too!", she sobs, tears beginning to well up in her eyes and dripping down on the archer's sweater, "I've been in love with you from the very start. And maybe it really was just this meaningless, superficial crush at first but with every passing day I fell harder.", another sob, then she chokes out a very pained groan, "I tried to make you realize, I really did! But nothing would work, you'd always put me in the friendzone and I didn't want to make things weird! Just like you probably, god, you're so fucking stupid sometimes." 

And Yukari lets her cry it out. She holds Minako through it all, even lets her insult her without a snarky comment in return this one time. She fiddles with her hair and gently strokes her back, even rocks her back and forth in her arms. God, how she adores this girl. And how she can't believe they've finally managed to confess.

They really are stupid. 

However, Yukari doesn't mind. She just wishes for this moment to last a little longer, for her time with her most precious friend to go on forever. 

But it doesn't.

**Author's Note:**

> story title from the song "(i can) say nothing" by kensuke ushio :>


End file.
